Developing a Feminism Identity - a Father's Role

In 1986, Gloria Steinem wrote a satire about what the world would be like if men menstruated. She argued that in such a world men would brag about being a “three-pad man,” tampons and sanitary napkins would be given out for free by the government, and women would carry the stigma of lacking this great gift of menstruation. She states, “In short, the characteristics of the powerful, whatever they may be, are thought to be better than the characteristics of the powerless - and logic has nothing to do with it.” Upon my first reading of that article I shared in the anger, the irony, and the raging pleasure of it. At the end of the article, Gloria argued that, “In fact, if men could menstruate, the power justifications could probably go on forever. If we let them (1986).” In that sentence, I heard the unmistakable call she was issuing to women. She was calling them to uncover their eyes to the misogynistic cultural artifacts that many women are brought up in society to accept. However, years later, when I set out to write this essay on how I became a feminist and the role men played in that identity, I began to look at Gloria’s article in a different light. Beyond the anger and sarcasm was a call for equality…a call that I believe was directed at men.

Today, Gloria Steinem, through the Ms. Foundation for Women, continues to seek men’s involvement in her crusade for gendered equality. In April 2003 the Ms. Foundation will transition their Take Your Daughters to Work Day program to Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Men’s involvement, education, and healing are essential to the goals of feminism. In fact, feminist men have influenced the person and political activist I have grown to be. I was five years old the first time my dad took me to work with him. His office was a library of amphibians, both in books and jars. My dad was a professor of biology at an all-woman’s college. At that early age I began to appreciate the education of women. “I